Do you take "pharmaceutical" medication in addition to B12? Why or why not?

I'm just wondering whether people here are less likely to take medication that their doctor suggests, like medication for mental health or for adrenal problems, and also I was wondering, if you choose to go the route of supplements instead of from pharmaceutical companies, why you choose to go this route.

Not judging anyone, just wondering.

Personally, I think that the only real thing doctors know how to do is write scripts at problems. Think about it, they only have 10 - 15 mins max with each patient. Does that sound like enough time to really go through your symptoms?

I also think they are too reliant on medications instead of home remedies. For example, I had an eyelid infection recently and all my doctor could do was write me a script for cream that was going to cost about $60 - $70 (US$40 - 55). Instead, I looked up remedies online for eyelid infection and researched myself and went and bought full-strength, undiluted tea tree oil from the chemist and started applying it over my eyelids with a cotton bud each and every night before bed. Within a couple of weeks, the condition I had for over a year was healed.

But my doctor never even suggested tea tree oil to me. Why not? Why was a cream with all of these chemicals in it, which may or may not have worked anyway, suggested to be applied to the sensitive area? And it cost way too much for me to buy anyway? Why didn't my doctor suggest the simple home remedy first?

Another thing is that I've had several instances where doctors had NO CLUE what was going on with several other conditions. If you don't have a broken arm that can be put in plaster, or you get into ph imbalances, yeast/candida, worms, anything like that, doctors have no clue. They are at least 20 - 30 years behind in medicine and I feel they have got the balance all wrong with writing scripts and treating the person as a whole.

So seeing as I've been shown time and time again that doctors do NOT have my best interests at heart, and really have no idea once you present them something they haven't heard of, why should I automatically pop pills that they think I need? I just don't trust them anymore... I'm so glad to have access to the Internet.

I certainly wouldnt recommend tea tree oil around the eye area at all (Ive had some training in Western Herbal Medicine, essential oils and other things). Just cause something is natural, it doesnt mean that it is safer. I'd expect with the tea tree that it would probably burn your eyes if you got it into them by rubbing or however.

For eyes and eye infections or infections area that area.. I used to get eyebright powder, open the capsule of fine powder and mix it with water and use that (it can be used in eyes etc too). (I cant remember now if that also comes as a tea).
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Thou Im trained some in natural therapies (I did two years full time at a Natural therapy collage trying to get government accediated 4 yr diploma, when I had to drop out due to getting ME while there), Im far more reliant on pharma drugs for my ME as in my case herbal medicine has done very little for my severe ME.

Over the year I was at Naturopathy collage with this illness, I just getting sicker and sicker.. I tried a lot (my lecturers were also chinese med trained).

For myself, my main relief (and only a wee bit) only came when I finally got GPs in which to treat my symptoms with pharma drugs

I take at times for my ME stuff
-benzo (Temazapam), anti histamine- doxlamine succinate, melatonin all for sleep at times (melatonin is a -prescription drug where I are
Florinef and Clonidine (for my ME othostatic issues),
-epi pen and other anti histamine Phenergan for my ME allergies if needed
- metoclopramide (an anti nausea drug sometimes given to chemo patients)
- ponstan, asprin, panadol when needed for pain
- ME even gives me asthma when I crash as i have some kind of viral thing flaring.. so Salbutamol puffer
I also end up in hospital for saline IVs when I collapse (sometimes I do not recover and need 2 bags of 1000ml saline IV).

Anyway.. Im on a shitload of prescriptions (I take up to 9 prescription drugs) as these things are the only things which help me other then also a heap of supplements too which only help a wee bit eg my CFS specialists has me on some for Adrenals, for my MTHFR mutation , for deficiencies etc etc.

Note I do get bad drug reactions to many drugs so many of my issues have had to be left eg I cant take statins for my very high cholestrol, I couldnt tollerate a testosterone implant (for my ME testosterone deficiency), I cant take SSRIs, I probably wont be able to take the drug I need for my insulin when my doctor sorts that out.

I can get very bad drug reaction to some herbal medicines too eg St John's Wort.. sent me one of a hella scary trip and had a more horrible side affect on me then even the SSRIs did. My reaction to the herb was so bad that it could of easily put me into hospital.

I cant see why people cant mix these pharma meds and supplements (as long as they are ones which dont badly react together). It doesnt have to be about one form of treatment or another. Even with all this my ME is in little control with anything taken by mouth (pacing right is the best thing which helps me and resting when needed).

I had B12 injections for years almost twice weekly, but nowdays take my B12 under my tongue.

I don't consider drugs any different than supplements, you just have to weigh the cost vs benefit. Here in the USA we have to remember that conventional MDs are afraid of drugs and are taught to always use them and never to consider supplement. On the other hand, european MDs use both and naturopaths tend towards supplements first. I suffered from depression from bartonella spp. before becoming disabled with CFS. I went to a Medical school psychiatrist who tried seven different antidepressants but I couldn't tolerate any of them due to side effects. After researching complementary therapies I found out that SAM-e was proven to be just as effective without side effects (400 mg 3x/day 30 min before meals) and decided to try it. I did this, got good results, and reported back to my psychiatrist. The shrink was happy but said that he couldn't continue to see me in the clinic as I wasn't being treated with drugs! So according to this logic the only reason to see a patient is to keep them from dying from the very drugs you prescribe. American medicine is a strange beast.

I certainly wouldnt recommend tea tree oil around the eye area at all (Ive had some training in Western Herbal Medicine, essential oils and other things). Just cause something is natural, it doesnt mean that it is safer. I'd expect with the tea tree that it would probably burn your eyes if you got it into them by rubbing or however.

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I've already finished my tea tree oil on my eyelid regime for blepharitis and it healed my eyelids completely. It did get in my eyes a few times but I was able to rinse it out. Even though it was full strength TTO, it didn't hurt too bad even when it did leak into my eye on a couple of occasions. It felt very cooling to my eyelids as well. Like it was doing its job.

It needed to be full strength TTO to get rid of the infection. I just apply it once a week with a cotton bud (Q-tip) on my eyelids after a shower to keep the infection at bay, for maintenance, now that the infection has been cleared up.

Of course, that's just my experience and others can use their judgement whether tea tree oil for blepharitis is for them and something they want to try. All I know is it worked fantastically for me, it didn't affect my eyes at all, a little bottle was cheap as well as you can use leftover tea tree oil for other things in the future like pimples or cuts, and it cleared up my condition quickly. I saw results in days and my infection was pretty much gone from my eyelids within a couple of weeks.

My main point of my story was that my doctor wanted to prescribe me topical cream from the chemist that was a) way out of my price range and b) I presume, full of chemicals that I didn't want near my eye area.

Furthermore, my doctor didn't even suggest simpler remedies like tea tree oil or manuka honey for my blepharitis. If it weren't for the Internet, I wouldn't have known about the TTO home remedy. I just think that doctors have that balance way wrong between automatically going for what Big Pharma wants them to prescribe, versus simpler cures.

Why did my doctor go straight for the expensive and chemical route instead of suggesting a home remedy? Maybe it was the doctor I saw, but it just happens to many times to me. I think it's an indicator of something bigger, an imbalance of the way doctors treat people, combined with lack of time, as well as the strong influence/preference for drugs instead of simpler cures that people have been using for thousands of years.

The one thing I do know is that tea tree oil should NEVER be used to clean cats or go anywhere near cats. I'm not 100% sure with dogs but I do know with cats if tea tree oil is applied to or spills onto their skin, it will seep through their skin and shut down their nervous system, resulting in the cat being paralysed and even death. So tea tree oil is safe to apply topically for humans but NOT cats at all.

I just thought I'd get that message out there to cat owners since I only learnt this a few years ago after being a cat person all my life.

The one thing I do know is that tea tree oil should NEVER be used to clean cats or go anywhere near cats. I'm not 100% sure with dogs but I do know with cats if tea tree oil is applied to or spills onto their skin, it will seep through their skin and shut down their nervous system, resulting in the cat being paralysed and even death. So tea tree oil is safe to apply topically for humans but NOT cats at all.

I just thought I'd get that message out there to cat owners since I only learnt this a few years ago after being a cat person all my life.

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I love animals too, especially cats, and just a few days ago I found out that cats lack glucuronidation mechanism. So they can't detox phenols, salicylates or nitrates. Mercola and dr. Becker suggest that everyone should use essential oils as bug reppelers in their pets - I wonder how much harm they are doing!